Zeppomon
by Empress of the Azure Skies
Summary: Xander makes a careless wish and disappears for a few days. When he returns he is several years older and has some powerful allies.


Title: Zeppomon

Author: DarkGoddess (aka Empress of the Azure Skies)

Summary: Xander makes a careless wish and disappears for a few days. When he returns he is several years older and has some powerful allies.

Time Line: Starts just before the beginning of Season Two of BtVS. Pokemon will be taking place in the game continuity because I haven't watched the anime in a long time.

Response to Twisting the Hellmouth Challenge 3690: The Change-Man and Monsters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Pokémon. They are property of Joss Whedon and Nintendo, respectively.

Xander sat on the couch, watching the TV turned way down. His father was snoring loudly upstairs. He had come home drunk, the same as just about every night Xander could ever remember, except the nights when he wasn't just getting drunk at home. His parents had gotten into another huge fight over it, but it just ended with his mother getting what would probably turn into a black eye and locking herself in the guest bedroom.

He sighed as he changed the channel, not feeling like watching whatever crime drama was on. He flipped past a few channels before arriving at something that caught his eye. It was an animated series he had never seen before. Some kid was using a yellow rat to fight some other kid with what looked like a living rock. During the first commercial break he discovered the show was called Pokémon. He watched it in utter fascination until the credits began rolling and a commercial started.

"Wow," he said, "I'm gonna have to tell Willow about this show."

Then he sighed.

"That kid's so lucky. The monsters fight for you instead of eating you, he doesn't have useless parents ruining his life, and he doesn't have any vampires stealing the girl he loves. I wish…"

He didn't even notice that the woman on the commercial had stopped talking and was looking directly at him.

"I wish that I could live in the Pokémon world!"

"Done," said the woman on the TV.

He looked at the screen. He jumped when he saw that her face now looked like it had been skinned and received a first or second degree burn. Before he can get up and run to the phone to call Willow about the demon possessing his television, the room started spinning. Everything faded to black as he fell to the ground. He suddenly felt the floor beneath him disappear and he started falling. After what felt like days falling he finally landed with a thud on the hard ground.

He quickly surveyed the area, but it was dark and he couldn't see much of anything. He stood up and brushed himself off.

"Something tells me I'm not in Kansas anymore," he remarked.

Willow slammed the book in front of her shut in frustration. Xander had been gone for almost a week and they hadn't been able to find any clues to his whereabouts. They thought they had a lead when the remaining members of the Order of Aurelius had kidnapped Giles, Cordelia, Ms. Calendar and Willow in order to resurrect the Master, but it turned out they had nothing to do with it.

Buffy and Giles both looked at her.

"Shouldn't we be out looking for Xander or something?" she exclaimed, standing up, "Why aren't we out there looking for him?"

Buffy stood up and hugged her.

"I know you want to find him," said the Slayer, "We all do, but we've tried looking for him the old fashioned way. Right now we just need to track down the right locator spell."

"We've tried like ten locator spells already!" Willow replied, "They gave us nothing!"

Giles sighed and closed the book he was reading.

"There is a spell I know," he remarked, "It is a spell to recall someone who has been lost. I was saving it as a last resort, but it appears we have no other options."

"Why didn't you tell us about it before?" the two girls demanded in unison.

"It's a teleportation spell and it's very dangerous for everyone involved. We run the risk of only teleporting half of his body or summoning some kind of demon."

"If we summon a demon, I'll make with the slayage," Buffy replied, "And if we cut him in half we'll find some way to magic him back together. We have to try it."

Giles sighed.

"I realize I'm not going to dissuade you, but please be patient. I'll prepare the ritual, but we're going to need Angel though. The gender balance has to be just right."

So Buffy rushed to find Angel, Giles went to find the necessary spell implements, and Willow prayed to whoever might've been listening at that moment that the ritual would work.

Several hours later, they were finishing the preparations. Giles had drawn a circle on the floor and placed a crystal dodecahedron in the center of it.

Buffy, Willow, and Angel were each sitting at specific points around the circle: Buffy to the south, Angel to the east, and Willow to the west. Each was holding a different object. Buffy had a cube shaped rock, Angel a tetrahedron shaped candle burning brightly, and Willow an icosahedron shaped block of ice.

"Can we hurry up?" asked Willow, "My thing is melting."

Giles surveyed the scene, then nodded. He grabbed a hollow glass octahedron and took his place at the north.

"Are you all ready?" he asked.

The other three nodded.

"We seek one who is lost," the incanted together, "We beseech the ancient elements, lend us your power. Go to him across space and return him to us."

"Spirits of Air who come from the North," Giles began, "Give him a tempest to blow him back to our shores."

The air inside of his octahedron began swirling and looked a small tornado. The glass disappeared and the wind maintained its shape. It moved until it was positioned directly at the center over the circle.

"Spirits of Earth who come from the South," Buffy continued, "Form a solid path for him to walk back to us."

The rock cube began breaking up into fine particles, forming a floating cube shaped cloud. The cloud flew up to join with the wind.

"Spirits of Fire who come from the East," Angel added, "Light his way back to this place."

The flames burning at the wick engulfed the entire candle, causing Angel to immediately let go of it. The burning mass hovered for a second, then joined with the swirling winds and earth particles.

"Spirits of Water who come from the West," Willow uttered, "Flow beneath his feet and bring him back."

The ice melted and flowed in a stream up to join with the other elements.

The now complete twisting mass of elements floated down to the crystal. The two fused, creating a glowing sphere.

"Aether," they all intoned together, "Breath of the gods, pure heavenly essence, now is the time. By the power of all that is, return him now!"

The glowing sphere expanded to the boundaries of the circle. Intense light filled the library, causing all of them to have to look away. When the light finally faded, they all looked expectantly at the circle.

There was nothing there.

"It didn't work," Willow said in disbelief, "We couldn't get him back."

She dropped down onto her hands and began sobbing.

Buffy wrapped her up in a hug, tears playing at her own eyes.

"It's okay, Will," she said, "We'll find him. We may have to turn Heaven and Hell inside out and pummel whatever we find, but we'll get him back."

Angel stood up and dusted himself off.

"I'll go see if any of my contacts underground have found out anything," he said before taking his leave.

In a place outside of space and time, two beings stirred. As their awakening began, ripples moved across all of existence. The hope for rebirth and the promise of destruction traveled with those ripples.

In the Anointed One's warehouse, the remaining members of the Order of Aurelius were plotting their next move.

"The Master is dead," said one, "Someone has to take his place."

"As long as the Slayer's alive, whoever takes his place will be sharing his grave," remarked another.

"Then let the soul who kills her wear his mantle," replied the first.

"Can you do it?" asked the Anointed One.

"Yes," he replied, "This weekend, the night of St. Vigeous, our power shall be at its peak. When I kill her, it'll be the greatest event since the crucifixion. And I should know. I was there."

It was at this moment that Spike, in his full bleach blond, bad boy, magnificent bastard glory came strutting in.

"You were there?" Spike inquired, chuckling, "Oh, please! If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock."

"I oughta rip your throat out," replied the vampire.

Spike ignored the vampire and looked away from him

"I was actually at Woodstock," Spike continued, "that was a weird gig. I fed off a flower person, and I spent the next six hours watchin' my hand move."

The first vampire, very pissed at Spike's insolence, attempted to charge at the blond. Without even turning around he swung up his fist and hit the vampire, knocking him out.

"So. Who do you kill for fun around here?"

"Who are you?" the Anointed One asked.

"Spike. You're that Anointed guy. I read about you. got Slayer problems. That's a bad piece of luck. Do you know what I find works real good with Slayers? Killing them."

"Can you?"

"A lot faster than Nancy-boy there. Yeah, I did a couple Slayers in my time. I don't like to brag."

He began to lose his composure and big smile came to his face.

"Who am I kidding? I love to brag! There was this one Slayer back during the Boxer Rebellion and…"

He trailed off as he sensed someone coming. He turned to see Drusilla strolling in. He quickly walked over to her.

"Drusilla," he said, "You shouldn't be walking around."

"I had to come find you," she replied wistfully, "the sun's about to come out."

"Dru, morning's not for a couple hours."

"He doesn't care," she said, "he's…here."

As if on cue, the warehouse was filled with blinding light. Those present had to look away or cover their eyes. When the light suddenly vanished, they could make out a figure in the shadows.

"Who goes there?" demanded the Anointed One.

"Vulpix, Sunny Day!" the figure shouted.

Instantly the warehouse was filled sunlight. All the vampires present tried to flee, but were dust long before they could reach the exit.

The figure stepped out of the shadows. He was a tall man who appeared to be about twenty with black hair, chocolaty eyes, and a very muscular form gained from hard work on his adventures. His face had some stubble from a combination not being able to get a proper shave in a while and an attempt to look cool.

At his feet was a reddish-brown fox-like creature with six red, curly tails and a curly tuft of red fur on the top of its red.

"Home sweet Hellmouth," Xander commented, "I guess some things never change. C'mon Vulpix, let's see if Buffy and Willow still recognize me. Maybe they'll have some Twinkies."

Glossary

Dodecahedron-a three dimensional shape consisting of twelve regular pentagonal sides.

Tetrahedron-a pyramid with a triangular base and three triangular sides

Icosahedron-a three-dimensional shape with twenty equilateral triangular sides.

Octahedron-a three dimensional shape consisting of eight triangular sides


End file.
